FUTURE DOCTORS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22320, 18 January 1936, Page 15

FUTURE DOCTORS

training in dominion REVIEW OF PROBLEMS DIFFICULTIES AT DUNEDIN SUGGESTED DEVELOPMENTS Ono of the most important matters .yirith which the Senate of the University '-of New Zealand will be called upon to .deal during its present sessions in ,Auckland, that of medical education in Ithe Dominion, was brought before the t sen ate yesterday in the report of a ispecial committee. This report was presented by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor T. A. Hunter, of Wellington. One of the points emphasised in it unci in the subsequent discussion was that there was no proposal to establish a second medical school in the Dominion, but that it was necessary to provide increased facilities for clinical instruction in centres outside Dunedin for sixth-year and possibly fifth-year students.

"The Senate of the University of New Zealand," said the report in a preliminary review, "has had forced upon its attention the special problems confronting medical education in New Zealand owing to the declared inability of the Otago University Medical School to accept for training more than approximately 60 students yearly, and the resulting criticism of. this decision in Parliament and in the community." Providing for More Students There could be no gainsaying the fact that orie of the difficulties in Dunedin was the smallness of the hospital with its restricted amount of clinical material. The number of beds in the hospital was 2SB, which would be increased by 44 this month. "The Medical Faculty believes," continued the report, "that under certain conditions a greater number of students could be provided with suffi. cient clinical material by the more effective use of the outpatient department of the hospital. This would involve the expenditure of a sum estimated at £22.600 to provide accommodation suitable for clinical instruction at the outpatient department and an annual expenditure of about £3OOO to provide further competent assistance in certain departments. With these additions the faculty considers it would be able to deal with a first-year enrolment in the Medical School up to 100 which is not likely to be exceeded for some years to come. "The committee has come to the conclusion that before any final decision can be reached as to the future of medical education in New Zealand the question of the balance between preclinical and clinical studies must be carefully considered. It seems to the committee that in Dunedin the tendency, compared with that. in British universities, has been to give relatively more time to anatomy, physiology, bacteriology and public health and to carry the work to a standard beyond that usually demanded of those qualifying for the pass degree. Points for Medical Faculty

"The suggestion that there should be in Auckland a Clinical School as part of the Otago Medical School raises problems and questions that the committee does not feel it is competent to determine, -but it recommends that the Faculty of Medicine at Otago University be asked to report on the following points:— (i.) Whether without prejudice to the training of general practitioners the present courses in anatomy and physiology could be reduced from six terms to five. (ii.) Whether in relation to the course as a whole less time should be given to instruction in bacteriology and public health, and in these subjects less detail be demanded of the student. (iii.) Whether, if the sixth year students (or the great majority of them) are to be taught in a clinical school in a centre other than Dunedin some relief could be given in the earlier years of the course by the postponement of a number of short course lectures to be taken in this other clinical centre. (iv.) Whether if clinical study be begun earlier in the course of the student it would be an advantage to allow some students to do their fifth year as well as their sixth year in the other centre. Parting of the Ways (v.) What staff and equipment would be necessary to enable the work in this other centre to reach a proper standard of efficiency (a) if only the sixth year work is taken in this centre, (b) if both fifth and sixth year work is taken in this centre. "The committee feels that if provision is not made for greater facilities in clinical instruction than exists in Dunedin, it will be necessary to limit the number* of'entrants to the Medical School or to injure seriously the efficiency of medical education. A failure to recognise this fact at this time may result in the demand for another complete medical school. This we believe is a luxury £he Dominion cannot afford and would probably result in such a division of effort as would greatly impair the efficiency of medical education.

"At the moment in this Dominion medical education seems to be at the parting of the ways: on the one hand it appears very unlikely that the clinical material at Dunedin will be sufficient to provide adequate facilities for all those who desire to enter the medical profession; on the other, it seems very undesirable that for years to come any attempt should be made to establish a second fully equipped medical school. It is a question for the Faculty of Medicine, the Council of Otago University and other authorities to decide whether some plan such as is indicated in this report may not provide the solution of what all must recognise is a very difficult question."